Local racers head off to Atlantic City for traditional indoor event

It’s not often that drivers from different disciplines get together to race. Seasons get longer every year, and opportunities to get in extra shows are few and far between. So offseason events become the only place that these types of shows happen.

This weekend in Atlantic City, a tradition that goes back to the late 1930s continues at historic Boardwalk Hall. The 10th annual Gambler’s Classic will see drivers from all over the racing world come together in a unique event on one of the smallest tracks around.

Several drivers we know well here in Central New York will tow to New Jersey this weekend for two days of fun. Oswego Speedway’s Joey Payne is an accomplished indoor racer. He learned those skills years ago at the same place a young Mario Andretti learned — Pine Brook Speedway in New Jersey.

“That’s where I learned how to drive.” Payne recalled, “That’s where Liquid Lou (Ciccone) learned how to drive ... everybody who is racing indoors that came from that track has a lot of success indoors because it really taught you how to race in such a small confined area.”

Payne also raced in Niagara Falls when the gambling surge hit Atlantic City and the race there was shelved for two decades. He was leading the TQ midget race in each of the last two years before mechanical issues sidelined him. And he brings a different car to this event, which is run inside the confines of a hockey rink.

“I have big bumpers,” he explained. “I’m pretty clean, but indoors is a contact sport and everybody knows it. You have to build your car sort of like a battlebot.”

Modified standout Stewart Friesen has won 47 races in the last two years and was one of those young drivers who raced indoors in Niagara Falls with Payne. He will be in Atlantic City this weekend in a Lou Ciccone-owned car, and he knows firsthand how fast everything happens indoors on a sticky surface coated with cola syrup.

These cars are not easy to drive by any means, so Friesen has taken some extra time to get ready for this weekend and the all-star field he will race against.

Friesen described the racing as “pretty intense” and said he’d worked out over the offseason “so my arms don’t fall off.”

“You’re hustling those things around pretty fast and it’s hard work. Again, it’s a lot of fun, and the best in the business are out there doing it.”

Also racing this weekend is local modified driver Larry Wight, who will compete in a 600 micro sprint owned by former mod lite racer D.J. Forbes. Wight has indoor karting experience, but this will be his first time in a wingless 600 micro.